French and Riviera News Monday 5th February 2018

French Riviera local news

Local

Corsica - Thousands of Corsicans have held a rally to call for greater autonomy from France ahead of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit on Tuesday. Nationalists seeking more financial devolution and recognition for the Corsican language marched in protest on Saturday.Tuesday's visit comes exactly twenty years since France's top official on the island, Claude Erignac, was shot dead on 6 February 1998 by a pro-independence activist.

Drug trafficking in Toulon - Eleven people have been taken into police custody in Toulon following a drug trafficking investigation in which one million euros and several weapons were seized. After several months of investigation police discovered 155 kg of cannabis resin, nine Kalashnikov assault rifles, handguns, a kilo of cocaine and one million euros in cash.

Cancer - Figures published have shown that in 2015 400,000 cases of cancer were diagnosed in France 8,000 of them in the Alpes Maritimes department. The most common cases of cancer in France are prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. The figures published as part of national cancer awareness day on Sunday show that while better treatment has led to fewer mortalities the number of cases diagnosed has not decreased.

Teenagers and loud music - Teenagers from the Alpes-Maritimes have attended a concert aimed at educating young people on the risks of listening to loud music. The concert took place in Nice and was part of a campaign to prevent hearing risks associated with loud music. 15 to 30 year olds are the most exposed to the risk with 25% of young people suffering serious hearing loss.

National

Salah Abdelslam to go on trial - The sole surviving suspect from the 2015 Paris terror attacks is due to go on trial today, amid tight security in Belgium. Salah Abdeslam was captured in Brussels four months after the attacks. The charges he faces are not related to events in Paris but to a gun fight with police while on the run in Belgium.

Cold snap - Météo France has placed 12 departments in France on an orange alert for risks of snow and ice, mainly in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. A cold snap is expected throughout France with a sharp drop in temperatures for at least the next three days.

Cigarettes to increase - The French government has announced that the price of some cigarettes is to increase as of March 1st. The new law will see some brands costing 8 euros a packet.

Saturday Night Live - The two icons of French cinema Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot have come under fire during the popular American TV show "Saturday Night Live". Deneuve and Bardot were parodied during the show on Saturday night in response to their comments following the #BalanceTonPorc movement.

Business

Asian shares have registered their biggest falls in more than a year this morning on the back of Wall Street’s performance on Friday.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell by 1.8 percent in its largest daily drop since late 2016 while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 fell by a further 0.4 percent suggesting further falls for US markets when they open later.
Investors have been spooked by Friday’s US jobs report which showed wages growing at their fastest pace in more than eight and half years,fuelling concerns over inflation.
Futures markets are now pricing in the risk of three or even four interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve this year.
Yields on 10 year US Treasuries have spiked up to a four year peak of 2.86 percent having jumped by nearly 7 basis points on Friday.

Oil prices have extended declines in Asian trade this morning amid a wider market sell-off and a stronger dollar.
Brent crude has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a month –down 68 cents or 1 percent to 67 dollars 91 with US West Texas Intermediate down 72 cents to 64 dollars 73.
Rising US production is also driving crude lower undermining attempts by Opec to support prices.
Data from the US government last week showed that output climbed above 10 million barrels a day in November for the first time since 1970.

And-The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority is investigating whether airlines are deliberately splitting up groups of passengers so that they pay to sit together.
The CAA says that it wants to make sure that seat allocation practices are “fair and transparent”.
CAA research of more than 4,000 passengers who travelled as part of a group on 10 airlines in the past year found that just over half of respondents were told that they would have to pay more to sit together before they booked.
The chief executive of the CAA says that airline seating practices are clearly causing “some confusion” and research showed that some passengers were paying to sit together when they might not need to.

England top the 6 Nations Championship on points difference from Wales following the first round of games.
England ran in 7 tries including two each from Anthony Watson and Sam Simmonds as they beat Italy 46-15 in Rome.The scoreline was a little flattering for England with Italy scoring two tries of their own and proving to be tough opponents at times as coach Connor O’Shea makes his mark.
On Saturday Wales trounced Scotland 34-7 in Cardiff to lay down a marker for their 6 Nations credentials.Scotland were very disappointing and will have to work hard to correct defensive errors if they’re to make a mark.
Saturday’s second game ended France 13 Ireland 15 in Paris with Johnny Sexton kicking a winning drop goal in overtime to give Joe Schmidt’s side the points.

England and Wales top the table with 5 Points each having both earned a bonus point.Ireland are in third with 4 points with France in fourth with 1 point and Scotland and Italy bringing up the rear.

The next series of games next weekend sees Ireland host Italy,England take on Wales at Twickenham on Saturday and Scotland face France on Sunday.
Our 6 Nations report is brought to you by HollerJones raw furniture.To find out more go to www.hollerjones.com

American Football-The Philadelphia Eagles have beaten the New England Patriots 41-33 to win Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
The Eagles produced a brilliant offensive display to deny the Patriots a record-equalling sixth Super Bowl title.
Zach Ertz scored a touchdown for the Eagles with less than 3 minutes remaining and a sack on Tom Brady just moments later put the game firmly in the Eagle’s grasp.
A late rally by the Patriots caused some late excitement but the clock ticked down to zero to give the Eagles their first ever Super Bowl success.

Football-There were two games in the English Premier League on Sunday.Crystal Palace and Newcastle drew 1-1 and Liverpool and Spurs drew 2-2.
There’s 1 game tonight.Watford play Chelsea at Vicarage Road.

Tennis-Spain have beaten Great Britain 3-1 to move into the quarter finals of the Davis Cup.
The decisive rubber was won by Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Sunday who beat Cameron Norrie to give Spain an unassailable lead.

Weather

Overcast with rain and snow above 800 meters.

Moderate to strong easterly winds and a high of 11 degrees.

Overnight lows of 8 degrees on the coast and -1 degree inland with more rain and snow over the high ground.

Tuesday and Wednesday-Cloudy with rain tomorrow and a high of 12.Partially cloudy on Wednesday with a high of 13.